I think one of the theories of researching and attempting to emulate the techniques of the old days is to shake us out of our complacency with the current way of doing things, much as taking apart an oboe and bassoon and playing just the reed (extended techniques) is a way to shake up musicians who are "stuck" in the current techniques. Of course not everyone wants to play this game, which requires research and experimentation skills, and time. Many people are very happy to go to school and pay someone to tell them exactly how to perform their art. These days there is a well defined "old style" of playing the lute that you can learn without doing any research or experimentation yourself.
When we look at a lot of old pictures of people playing the lute in a certain era and a certain place we see a certain consistency. We see a lot of rh little fingers sticking out near the bridge, but we can't easily tell whether they are firmly planted or just making occasional light contact. We can't tell how long the fingernails are or the gauge and pitch of the strings. So exactly how the old ones played is a puzzle with pieces missing. Another sociological question is that of peer pressure in the lute world. Why do some people feel defensive, or why are they persecuted for applying a contemporary or 100 year old technique to a much older instrument? Why are there so few electric archlutes? There is a thesis for your PHD degree! Wayne Begin forwarded message: > From: Tobiah <t...@tobiah.org> > >> If we aim to recapture the sound the >> Old Ones made then it is surely right to adopt the same technique they >> used. > > As a fringe exercise, rather like a reenactment of the civil war, I can > see having some interest in duplicating as close as possible, what was > done with the music and instruments during the time that they were created. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
